Bath furnace conveying device



May 8, 1956 o. R. oLsoN BATH FURNACE CONVEYING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22 1953 INVENTOR. Osea/w. O/So/z United States Patent BATH FURNACE CONVEYING DEVICE Oscar R, Olson, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application April 22, 1953, Serial No. 350,374

,5'Claims. (Cl. 198--21'1) This invention relates generally to the art of conveying while heating articles such as kpipe sections in a bath furnace during the process of -coating or :working on the same and more particularly tothe conveying of diierent quantities of pipe sections through the furnace bath with the constant speed of the conveyor member.

A bath type furnace requiressome mode of feeding the articles therethrough. Present vdayppractice is to employ manual labor who roll the articles, such as pipe sections, into the bath allowing them to remain a .given length of time and then sh for them -in the bath when it is time to remove them. The bath is in a kettle rtype furnace which may contain manyidiierent solutions. yconsist of spelter for the purpose of galvanizing the articles or it may be a hot salt solution for the purpose of heating articles that are to be further treated as by pickling or for heating *articles such as uranium metal prior tofrolling the same. Baths of this character are contained in a large steel kettle which is supported lon a'base and laterally, :from the sides and end walls, by ceramic `fur-nace walls. .Portions vof the side and end walls of the kettle may :be :exposed directly to the products of combustion of the fur- -nace `employed to heat the same and maintain the same ,at'the proper temperature.

rOne of the principal objects of this invention is the pronvision of a kettle furnace that is provided with a series of rails or skids for the purpose of guiding and supporting sections of longitudinal members, such as pipe sections, as -they yare fed-into and through the bath so that they remain in the bath a specific period of time which ywould be suic`ient .to properly coat the same if it is a spelter furnace or to properly heat the same if itis a salt bath. These articles may be supported by skids and moved by wheels that are provided with Yperimetral pockets for `the purpose of carrying the pipe sections through the bath and discharge the same after a :predetermined period of time. The whole of these wheels may be submerged and the pipe section carried by the wheels themselves, Oras previously stated, the pipe sections may be rolled lor shoved along parallel track or skids while the vperimetral pockets in the wheels merely maintain the pipe sections in spaced relation and roll them through the bath at a predetermined period of time. After the pipe sections have remained in the bath a given time, another means is employed to lift and convey the pipe section from `the bath. This discharge mechanism, however, comprises a subject matter of copending application.

Another object of this invention is supervision of a pair of wheels, each having equal sized pockets and equal number of pockets around their perimeter, `which when rotated, may be mounted adjacent each-other to form a -single wheel with a given maximum number oi pockets which represents the maximum number of pockets in each individual wheel. When one wheel is ,disposed at an angle relative to the other wheel to offset their pockets Arelative to each other, they present an annular Series of ,pockets which are equivalent to twice the number of ICC `pockets of each individual wheel but substantially half 4sections through the bath, the wheels are operated at sub- A bath may stantially the same speed. They will convey twice the number of pipe sections through the bath. `Due to the fact that these-,pipesections are smaller diameter they do not require the length oft time in the bath as the larger pipe sections because lthey vdonot contain the amount of steel the larger sections contain. `Itis unnecessary to allow a smaller Section of jpipe to remain in the'bath as long as :the larger section of pipe, however, both sizes of pipe sections remain in the bath a proportionate amount of time and in accordance with their weight.

The 'conveyor wheels may be disposed of at less than one half the pitch of the pockets on the conveyor wheels and thereby present smaller pockets for smaller sections of gpipe but the total'number ofpockets is the same as that in each wheel. This may be employed to convey ysolid rods or othermembers of greater weight having smaller vcross section through the bath. These require a longer period of time in the bath as do the larger pipelsecltions which may be of the same weight as the solid member.

`Again the -conveyor wheels when locked together may be rotated at the differentspeeds so as to change the timing that they convey the pipe sections through the bath.

close together and it is also desirable to have one or more sets of these pairs ofwheels, particularly when these pipe sections are comparatively long. In order to rotate fthe wheels `of each pair, it V:is necessary to mount one group of wheels on a shaft and the other gro-up of wheels on sleeves that are rotated with `and supported on the shaft.

VBy employing a common source of power, one group of wheels may be driven through a :clutch member whereas :the other group of wheels would be driven directly from the source of rotary power. In this way the clutch memyber maybe shifted to change its relative position so as to dispose the wheels of each pair in their predetermined proper relation to each other for the purpose of changing the size-or the number of pockets adequate for conveying selected articles through the bath.

While it is necessary to provide rotary motion submerged within a bath of spelter or boiling salt, some of the structure is usually attacked by the bath and it is necessary to protect the same. In order to permit the rotary structure to operate submerged, it is necessary to provide large clearances, in other words, to employ a sloppy t in order that the bath `does not completely destroy or jam the rotary parts when they are operated in the heated bath. Structure of this character is made very rugged and will still operate with sufficient degree of accuracy to prevent any misaction in the conveying of the articles through the bath.

The clutch member which determines the relative position of one of each pair of wheels may be of a dent type andvdials may be provided to indicate the exact location of one wheel in respect to its mate in a pair, or of a simpler type of clutch such as coaxial anges each having a relative series of holes Where certain selected holes being lined and fitted with clamping bolts produces a series f adjusted positions or types of pockets. When the flanges are bolted together the bolts are in shear. This type of clutch member provides a simple protection to the device.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplieation, without limiting the invention or claims thereto, certain practical embodiments illustrating the principles of the invention wherein:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of the conveying device as disposed in a bath type furnace.

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation of the structure as illustrated in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a detailed View in section illustrating a manner of drive of the structure described in Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a View in end elevation of the structure illustratcd in Fig. l with the conveying wheels having their pockets congruent to each other.

Fig. 5 is a view in end elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1 with the pockets of the conveying wheels offset relative to each other to reduce the size of the pocket.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the kettle which contains the bath material 2 and which is supported in and surrounded by a furnace structure 3, only a part of which is indicated by the iiue 4. A series of vertical support post members 5 are arranged to carry superstructure 6 made up of the longitudinal I-beams 7 connected by the cross channel members 8. Selected of said cross channels 3 have bearing stands 10 which support the bearing members 11 that carry the common drive shaft 12 that obtains its source of power from any suitable drive means to the sprocket member 13 driven by any suitable chain as indicated in 14.

The bearing members 11 at the opposite ends of the shaft also function as thrust members. The shaft 12 supports the beveled gear members 15, 16, 17 and 13. Each of these beveled gear members is meshed with a complementary beveled gear 19, 20, 21 and 22 respectively. The latter beveled gears are mounted on the ends of the four vertical shafts illustrated at 23 in Fig. 3 which has contained within, their housing members 24 supported between the channel members 8 and also tied together by the braced frame members 25 as shown in Fig. 1. Thus the housings 24 and the frame 25 when fabricated present a unitary structure which, with the whole of the mechanism suspended therefrom, may be raised and removed from the vicinity of kettle 1 for tne purpose of working on the kettle or the furnace.

As shown in 3 the housings 24 have the lower bearing sleeves 26 secured to their lower ends and carry the upwardly spaced sleeve bearing members 27 adjacent to the upper ends of the sleeves in which sleeves are journaled the lower stub shafts 28 that are keyed to the upper shafts 23 and are journaled in the lower bearing members 30 each having a beveled gear attached to its lower end. As shown in Fig. l the opposite end of the shaft having `evel gear 19 is provided with bevel gear 31 and the consecutive shafts are provided with bevel gears 32, 33, and 34. Each of these bevel gears mesh with complementary bevel gears 35, 36, 37 and 3S. The gears 35, 36 and 3 are connected to sleeves and bevel gear 37 is connected to the shaft. Beveled gear 35 is connected to sleeve 4() on which the wheel 41 is secured. Wheel 'l2 is secured to the end of the shaft 43. The shaft 43 entends the [ull length of the structure and has the wheels 42, 44 and 45 keyed or otherwise secured thereto. Shaft 43 is driven by the bevel gears 17, 21, 33 and 37. This shaft 43 is carried in hearings in the sleeves 40, 47 and 52 and in the bearing 49. As shown in Fig. 3 bevel gear 32 drives bevel gear 36 which is secured to the sleeve 47 that is in turn journaled within the bearing 43 and carried by the back bracket 29 from the housing over the shaft 28. The other end of the sleeve 47 has secured thereto the wheel member 50 which mates with the wheel member 44 and a similar structure is illustrated for supporting the wheel member 51 which forms a pair with the wheel member 45 and is supported by the bearing member 52 and driven through the meshing bevel gears 34 and 38. ln this structure each of the wheels driven by a sleeve has an independent drive from the shaft 12 whereas the shaft 43 drives each of the wheels 42, 44 and 45 through the single drive including the bevel gear train 17, 21, 33 and 37.

The drive to the shaft 43 through this bevel train is proved with a clutch member as shown in 53 which has one ange 54 secured relative to the bevel gear 17 and the other ange 55 is secured relative to the shaft 12. Each of these flanges is provided with a series of multiple openings, which when placed in alignment with each other, may receive one or more bolts as illustrated in 56 for the purpose of locking the anges 54 and 55 together at a predetermined selected position such as may be illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 shows each pair of wheels in phase with one another and Fig. 5 shows a pair of wheels partially in phase, whereas Fig. 2 illustrates the wheels being at a pitch of one-half the pitch of the pockets provided in each wheel.

As shown in Fig. 2 the supply conveyor such as illustrated at 60 is to supply the articles such tubing which is short enough to pass between the support members 5 and roll down the skid members 61 one at a time, falling into an upwardly open pocket as illustrated by the pipe section 62. Thus a series of pipe sections on the conveyor 60 may be timed so that each pipe section is dropped into a pocket as it is presented at the end of the skid 61 and controlled by the guide members 63 that form a throat. The pipe is then supported by the skid members 64 which extend around the perimeter of the wheels to the discharge point as indicated at 65 wherein the pipe members are permitted to drop over into and be caught by the V-shaped pockets 66 of the skids 64. A number of skids may be provided and their ends are turned outwardly and rest on top of the furnace structure as indicated at 67. When the pipe has been dropped into the pocket 66 a hook member such as illustrated at 68 may raise one end of the pipe section and engage it with the first of the series of the magnetic rolls 79 supported from the beam structure 71. The rolls 70 are rotatably driven in order to drag the pipe upwardly along the inclined plane as shown in Fig. l and remove it from the bath. At this time the pipe is swabbed by means of an asbestos cloth structure or by means of vapor such as steam for the purpose of heating the inside and the outside of the same.

As shown in Fig. 2 there are twice as many small sections of pipe in the bath feeder than in that illustrated in Fig. 4 where the wheels are in phase for large pipe, and there are the same number of sections of pipe in Fig. 5 as that illustrated in Fig. 4 for an intermediate sized pipe, although the pipe and the pockets are smaller. ln such an instance the speed of the mechanism may be reduced or may be increased in order to increase or reduce the conveying time through the bath. The medium sized pipe shown in Fig. 5 may take a different time than thc larger pipe as shown in Fig. 4 in order that the pipe will not be underheated and remain in the bath longer than necessary. In other words, the different positions of the clutch member 53 together with the speed of the device determines the time each pipe section or other articles are permitted to remain within the bath.

While for clarity of explanation, certain embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that this invention is capable of many modifications and changes in the construction and arrangement of parts and certain parts and steps may be employed'without the conjoint use of other parts and steps and without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A rotary feeder for moving articles to be treated comprising a support carrying a plurality of spaced bearing means, a sleeve means rotatably supported in each of said bearing means, a wheel mounted on said sleeve means and having outwardly open article conveying pockets, a shaft rotatably mounted in said sleeve means, a wheel mounted on said shaft and having outwardly open article conveying pockets co-operating with the pockets of the first wheel, a rotary power source, independent intermediate drive means connected between said rotary power source and said sleeve means and said shaft to rotate their respective wheels independently and at the same speed to permit said outwardly open article conveying pockets to co-operate with each other, and clutch means in said drive means to shift the relative rotary position of said wheels and change the relative position of their outwardly open article conveying pockets to determine the size and number of outwardly open article conveying pockets available for receiving and conveying articles.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that the wheel on the sleeve means and the wheel on said shaft are in pairs relatively close to each other and operate as a unit.

3. The structure of claim l characterized in that said clutch means can be engaged to provide twice the num- Der of small pockets as there are large pockets in said wheels.

4. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said clutch means can be engaged to provide smaller sized pockets than that obtainable with said wheels in phase with each other.

5. The structure of claim l characterized in that said independent intermediate drive means comprises a Second shaft parallel with said first shaft and said sleeve means and independent take o means forming a drive from said second shaft to said rst shaft and to said sleeve means, said clutch means being disposed between said second shafts and said independent take off drive means to said rst shaft.

Oliver July 22, 1919 Potthof Apr. 9, 1935 

